Gabby and Gappy

Those Lazy Days of Summer

Just in case you are wondering what they were huddled around, Kora had this
frog in her hand. Evidently they were playing toss the frog.

Am I the only adult who wonders where those "lazy days of summer" went?

Spectac-ular

I have spent the last two days taking kids to the eye doctor (unfortunately many places like this and my dentist have a two-per-family-per-day rule. A real drag for larger than average families). And someone in our family will be getting new glasses! This person is really cute in them, and is excited to get them. I'll post pictures when they come in!

Early Morning Quiet

Ashlynn is sleeping through the night about 5-6 nights out of the week now, so I have resumed a more normal schedule. Kelly and I get up at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. so that we can work out together and eat breakfast before he goes to work. This allows me to work out, eat, shower, make my bed, and be dressed before the short people of the house start wondering downstairs.

I have to say that I am not a natural morning person. When I was a teenager, I prided myself in the fact that I could sleep until close to noon on Saturdays or in the summer. I had no problem getting up early to go to school; but given the opportunity, I would sleep the morning away. The fact that I have always been something of an insomniac didn't help this.

I had Kora pretty quickly after graduating from college and quitting my job, so I would sleep when she slept. But I found very quickly that I wasn't getting much done. And my type A personality began to long for a little more routine in my life. Plus I finally felt grown up: I was a wife and a stay-at-home mom with a baby. It was time to start keeping the house like a grown up instead of a college kid. So that's when I started getting up early enough to cook breakfast and be dressed before my kids were up. I was going to a gym three mornings a week, so I didn't have to worry about getting in a workout until later in the day.

As we had more kids and moved to San Antonio, things changed. I didn't go to a gym anymore, but got up early to meet a very good friend for a two mile speed walk every week day morning. The time of exercise and fellowship was wonderful. It also got these important things out of the way, so I could concentrate on my main job: raising my girls and running the house.

Ever since then I have gotten up early to work out and be dressed before I have to deal with kids. If I don't, I feel like I am running behind all day. I still don't really like getting up at 5 am, but I like the results. I love to shed baby weight and be in good shape. I hate having to take a shower and get dressed after the kids are up. And I really hate feeling behind.

But the last week or two I have realized something else. I like the early morning. I love the way the early light filters in through the blinds. There's something about the quality of the light that is different. I love the stillness of the house, the quiet expectancy of the day. There is a peace felt at that time that I don't feel at any other time of the day. And I'd missed that the last few months.

It's good to be back.

A Weekend Well Spent

We celebrated the long Fourth of July weekend in a slightly unorthodox manner. We had bought some furniture a few weeks ago and it was delivered last Thursday, so we spent that evening and a good part of Friday and Saturday cleaning out and reorganizing to accommodate the new stuff. We also had several smaller projects on the to-do list for the weekend, so we were hopping all weekend long.

And of course, I had to go shopping for new accessories to go with the new furniture.

Friday evening we did grill, but we had something special. I'm sure most people know that Wal-mart price matches other stores. One of the other grocery stores here in town had t-bone and Blue Bell Ice Cream on sale. We don't have one of their stores near us, so I took the flyer to Wal-mart Friday morning, along with two $1 off coupons from Blue Bell's website. I bought t-bone steak - which we hadn't had in ages - for $3.97 a pound (versus over $11 a pound regular Wal-mart price) and two half-gallons of Blue Bell for $1.88 each. So for $15.95, plus some red potatoes and fresh corn I already had at home, we had a really good steak dinner with our favorite ice cream for supper for 7 people. Not too bad, and a wonderful treat. So if you get flyers for grocers you don't normally frequent, scan them for deal you can get at Wal-mart!

Do you know what this is?

Yes, this is our house.

But what is that in front?

Yes, it is a yellow car. A VERY yellow car. (Or, as Lauryn used to say, "Daddee's yewwow cah.")

But do you know what else it is?

It is a paid off very yellow car! Yep, we paid the car off this week. Now we are going to roll a good part of the money that used to go into the car payment into the suburban payment. So hopefully we'll pay that off soon as well.

A New Toy

Look how big Ashlynn's getting! Not to mention how cute she is.
Now that she's holding her head up pretty well, and loves to stand up, we pulled out the exersaucer and she loves it!

She also loves to smile at the people she loves.
The little spinning thing with all the little balls startles her everytime she spins it.
Did I mention just how cute she is???